Former Indian captain Sachin Tendulkar is arguably the greatest batsman to have played the game. The Master Blaster is widely regarded as the ‘God of Cricket’ because he created a plethora of records in his glorious 24-year career. He is still the highest run-scorer in Tests as well as ODIs.
But his stats as a leader are evidence of how Tendulkar wasn’t suited to be the captain. He could only lead the Indian team to 27 wins across formats with a winning percentage of 28. Out of the 98 matches captained by Sachin, India lost 52. And out of all these losses, the one which the Mumbaikar calls the worst came against West Indies in 1997. India lost the Barbados Test by 38 runs while chasing just 120.
The Indian side was at 2/0 when umpires called stumps on Day 3. Tendulkar was confident of a victory, and that night, he told a restaurant owner to keep a bottle of champagne ready for their party after the win.
However, the Tendulkar-led Indian side failed miserably as Curtly Ambrose, and Ian Bishop wreaked havoc. The Indian team was eventually bowled out for a paltry 81 and lost the match which was in their grasp. After the loss, the scenes in the dressing room were ugly, and Indian journalist Vikrant Gupta revealed the same on Saturday.
In a YouTube video for SportsTak, Gupta mentioned that Sourav Ganguly came to Tendulkar’s room to calm him down. Sachin told Ganguly to go for a morning run the next day, but the southpaw didn’t show up. Sachin wasn’t happy with the casualness, and he threatened Sourav to end his career.
“Sachin gave a lesson to all the players in the dressing room, doubting himself on his abilities after the two-Test series. Sourav Ganguly, who was new to the team, went up to console the skipper. When he walked up to Sachin, the then captain told him to get ready for the next day’s morning run.”
“Ganguly did not turn up for it, and that is when Sachin threatened him that he will send him back home and end his career,” Gupta said.
After that incident, Ganguly ensured he never made Tendulkar angry again.
